Expensive Toasters
I just watched last week’s Top Gear and was amused when Jeremy Clarkson showed a lot of video footage of Lamborghini Gallardos catching fire.
Can a car that is that rare (and expensive), catch fire so regularly?
Searching Google finds quite a few examples. Here’s a well documented case from the Daily Mail.
You Don’t Have to Play Old – Part 2
He’s still in front!
Bacon and Egg Salad
This is another recipe by Sybil Kapoor in The Times.
Again, I haven’t tried it, but it looks like a good alternative to Salad Nicoise. I have changed the bread to a couple of slices of gluten-free bread. I use my own bread, which I make in a breadmaker using Dr. Schar’s Mix-B breadmix.
This is the quantities for four.
- 1 clove of garlic
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 7 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 thick slices of ordinary white or sourdough bread – Change for gluten-free
- 450g green beans, trimmed
- 1 crisp green lettuce, such as batavia
- 1 tbsp white- or red-wine vinegar
- 4 free-range eggs, medium
- 200g back bacon, trimmed and diced
And this is how you make it.
- Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. In a bowl, grind the garlic with a little salt and mix in 1 tbsp olive oil. Cut the crusts off the sliced bread, then cut the bread into walnut-sized chunks and toss in the garlic oil, so they are well coated. Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. If the oven is dodgy, lightly fry in a little extra oil until crisp.
- Top and tail the beans and drop into a pan of boiling water. Boil vigorously for 7 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cool by spreading out onto a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- Remove and discard the outer leaves of the lettuce. Separate and wash the inner leaves, then dry in a tea towel, and rip the larger leaves into smaller pieces. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar and 3 tbsp oil. Season to taste and mix in the beans.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil and gently lower in the eggs. Keep the water simmering rather than vigorously boiling and cook for 6 minutes for a well-set white but moist yolk. Allow a minute longer if fresh-laid, chilled, or if you want them slightly more cooked. Drain, crack and cool slightly under the cold tap.
- Set a frying pan over a medium heat. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and, once hot, add the bacon and fry briskly for 5 minutes, or until crispy. Mix the bacon into the beans with the lettuce and croutons.
- Quickly peel and halve the eggs. Mix into the salad and serve immediately.
It sounds good to me.
Chunky Minestrone Soup
This recipe comes from Sybil Kapoor in The Times.
I’ve posted it not because I’ve done it yet, but because it looks good and I don’t want to lose it. She says it is very adaptable and you can use any canned pulse, apart from lentils. As I need more pulses, that’s fine by me.
This is what you’ll need for 4.
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 sticks of celery, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, diced
- 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
- 2 courgettes, chopped
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- Piece of parmesan rind, plus grated parmesan to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 410g can cannellini, kidney or borlotti beans
- 2 generous handfuls chopped green cabbage
And this is the method you’ll use.
- You can prepare the vegetables as you’re cooking the soup. If possible, try to cut them into roughly the same size. Set a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the oil and, once hot, mix in the diced onion. As the onion softens, prepare and add the carrot, followed by the celery, garlic, potato and courgette. Stir occasionally.
- Let the courgettes soften for 2 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes. Fill the empty tin 3 times with water and pour it into the soup. Add the parmesan rind and some freshly ground black pepper. If you don’t have any parmesan rind, just add a little chunk of parmesan. Do not add salt at this stage.
- Increase the heat and bring up to a simmer, then cook gently over a low heat for up to 2 hours. The longer it cooks, the thicker and more flavoursome it will get. If the soup gets too thick, just add more water.
- Drain and rinse the canned beans, and chop the cabbage into easy-to-eat pieces. Set aside. About 30 minutes before the end of cooking, add the drained beans. Then, 20 minutes before you want to eat, mix in the cabbage.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes and serve with grated parmesan and crusty bread. This tastes even better the following day.
I wonder if it’ll freeze for the winter.
My Brief Case
I went to a school in North London, Minchenden, where carrying brief cases by their handles was very much frowned upon. I still follow that tradition today.
My Dunhill Brief Case
My late wife bought it at Dunhill in about 1976. Admittedly they have replaced the zip twice, but despite its battered appearance it’s still going strong and accompanies me everywhere on business.
That’s what quality is about!
Note that the case has no handle and two very useful side pockets.
My Racehorse in Training
I went to see my racehorse that is in training with Chris Wall at Newmarket this morning.
Oratorio Filly
She is a filly by Oratorio, out of a Sadlers Wells mare. That is pretty good breeding. She was actually bought in-utero by my late wife in 2006.
But as with all racehorses, it is very much a matter of chance, not breeding, that she will be any good on the racecourse.
The Irreverent Widow
I’ve just added a site called The Irreverent Widow to this blog.
Being widowed is a serious business and it needs a bit of humour and a lot of commonsense.
This is a typical comment.
In grief, as in dog walking, one must ask: “Is putting the poop in a plastic bag & tossing it really the wisest way to deal with it?”
Not sure. But we need a lot more robust thinking on death and widowhood.
I shall be reading more.
You Don’t Have to Play Old
Although I’d prefer to see someone from these islands win the Open, it’s nice to see Tom Watson up there in front. He’s 59 and I think he’s got an artificial hip.
But in some of these sports, it is often the case that experience and a sound strategy are perhaps just as important as a sound body.
Crohn’s Disease and Coeliacs
I was watching the rugby league last night, whilst eating a very nice frozen chilli con carne, when the commentator said that one of the players for Wakefield, Richard Moore, suffered from Crohn’s Disease.
There is a connection between Crohn’s Disease and being a coeliac as this study shows. The study recommends that everybody suffering from Crohn’s Disease, go on a gluten-free diet.
You Don’t Have to Look Old!
Some of us look good as we get old and some of us don’t. I will not comment on myself, but look at this article in the Daily Mail on Sophia Loren. I hope that she’s really as happy as she looks in these pictures.
Some years ago, we were on holiday in Italy and one of the cosmetic companies was having what was probably a thank-you weekend for all of the models that used their products. One absolute stunner who I recognised from the adverts she had done was probably in her late sixties. But she was the one who exercised in front of everyone on the beach. In a bikini too!
That’s why I play a lot of tennis, ride my bicycle and walk when I can. I’m also the same weight as when I got married.
The Anonymous Widower 